Step It Up battles climate change

Author: Kelly Janis

On Nov. 3, local residents equipped themselves with hats, gloves, hiking boots, cameras and the odd Robert Frost poem to join forces for the Town of Middlebury's effort as part of Step It Up's National Day of Climate Action.

Step It Up is a nationwide campaign spearheaded by Bill McKibben, scholar-in-residence in Environmental Studies at the College, and a team consisting of several Middlebury alumni. The organization urges Congress to support legislation to cut carbon emissions 80 percent by the year 2050 as part of a larger effort to curb climate change.

This November's day of action was intended to reinforce the message imparted by participants upon political leaders and civilians alike during April's undertaking - which, by sparking more than 1,400 events in all 50 states, secured for itself the distinction as the largest global warming event in U.S. history. It also promoted the newly established "1 Sky Campaign," whose chief science-based priorities include creating 5 million "green jobs" aimed at environmental conscientiousness and the conservation of energy, cutting carbon emissions and enacting a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants.

In Middlebury, Step It Uppers boarded the Addison County Transit shuttle to Ripton, where they embarked on their choice of a guided reflection at the Robert Frost cabin or an exploration of the Spirit In Nature trails. As the day wore on, participants were moved to espouse their motives for attendance.

Event organizer Laura Asermily was drawn into issues surrounding climate change while doing coursework at the Vermont Earth Institute. After six years of working with Middlebury's Earth Day Environmental Fair, the transition to Step It Up came naturally.

"When we learned about Step It Up, we just converged with them because we saw them as aligned with our own mission to educate and rally people to take action locally," Asermily said.

Asermily believes that this local action is vital. "I can't think of anything that affects us more profoundly and deeply," she said.

Local resident Fran Putnam shared this sentiment.

"I just think it's really important for people in our generation to take some initiative," Putnam said. "We helped create this mess, this problem of global warming, unwittingly, not knowing what we were doing for a large part of our lives. And then suddenly we've begun to realize that this is critical, that this is a terrible situation we're in." She deemed such efforts as Step It Up apt ways of beginning to rectify this situation.

"People in our generation are used to being activists because of the Vietnam War and civil rights and things of that nature," Putnam said. "So this is second nature for us to come out here and do something."

Participant Anne Hoover suggested that as the direness of environmental circumstances mounts, so too will the public's concern. "It has to get to the point where the whole thing starts to hurt," she said.

Hoover was not convinced that the general population has begun to feel the pain. "I'm no judge, but I think most people are off in the clouds someplace," she said.

When asked whether Step It Up's goals were feasible, Hoover was blunt. "Well, we've gotta work at it," she said.

Putnam agreed. "I think we're in a serious trouble if it isn't [feasible]," she said. "I think we have to set a really high goal. If we set a high goal and only get to three quarters of it, that's better than not setting any goal and not getting anywhere."

Upon returning to Middlebury, participants gathered on the Town Green to honor local leaders in climate change and reflect on Step It Up's goals.

Asermily read a letter from Bill McKibben. "A year ago, our central goal - 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions - was seen as a fringe and radical idea," McKibben wrote. "Now, it's near the center of the political debate, influencing every piece of legislation that is proposed. We haven't seen a perfect bill yet, but we're definitely getting closer, thanks to you. Because only people power can stand up to the enormous economic power on the other side."

At the event's conclusion, ralliers were urged to "give the green finger" by rubbing their left index finger in green ink, scrawling that which they were most intent on protecting ("diversity" or "family" or "the forests," for instance) on the palm of their hand and unfurling the message in a group photograph in the pavilion.

Behind the group lays the resolve of numerous highly motivated individuals.

Despite his young age, North Branch School ninth grader Kelsey McGlashan is already heavily involved in issues of climate change. Subsequent to McGlashan's participation in Step It Up in April, McKibben - who McGlashan referred to as "a good friend" - urged him to take on a larger role this November. As a consequence, McGlashan served as one of the rally's co-leaders.

"It's important because this could be the end of the world - well, maybe not that," McGlashan said. "But this is a good action that is really going to address the problem."

While energized by their efforts, many who comprised Middlebury's Step It Up crew lamented the fact that their neighbors had not joined them.

"I was a little disappointed at the numbers, because in April there were a lot of people," McGlashan said.

Participants reminisced about the inaugural Step It Up rally, at which so many individuals assembled for a photograph on the Otter Creek footbridge that they were allegedly urged to disperse, for fear that the bridge would collapse. The estimated two dozen participants last Saturday did not pose a similar threat.

"There are not as many people out here today as there were in April, that's for sure," Putnam said. "And that does distress me, because I think there should be more, not fewer."

"Right," Hoover said. "More, more."

Conspicuously absent was the college-aged contingent. Two College students traveled to Bristol, while three more trickled in later in the afternoon to attend the event on the Town Green.

Hannah Rabinovitch '09 characterized this scarce showing by her peers as disappointing. Though she suspected that many of the campus's most diehard environmental activists were justifiably detained by the weekend's related Power Shift conference in Washington D.C., she said that many students she had spoken to that morning were reluctant to add another engagement to a day already consumed by schoolwork. "It's crazy that people say they have too much work and can't come out for a day, because, when global warming hits, that mark on a paper isn't going to matter much," Rabinovitch said. "We need to re-evaluate our priorities, because this is really serious."

Despite students' absences at this particular event, community members were still enthusiastic in their praise of the College's broader efforts.

"Keep on with this," Putnam said. "I am thrilled to see what students are doing. For years, we weren't seeing a lot of activism coming from the College. Now, in the last five to 10 years, it's just been bubbling up, and bubbling up. It's really inspiring."

"This is going to become the big movement of your generation," Putnam said. "There's just no doubt about it."